CAUSES

Primary causes
International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggests poverty is the
greatest single cause behind child labour. For impoverished
households, income from a child's work is usually crucial for his or
her own survival or for that of the household. Income from working
children, even if small, may be between 25 to 40% of the household
income.
Cultural causes
In European history when child labour was common, as well as in
contemporary child labour of modern world, certain cultural beliefs
have rationalised child labour and thereby encouraged it. In many
cultures, particular where informal economy and small household
businesses thrive, the cultural tradition is that children follow in their
parents' footsteps; child labour then is a means to learn and practice
that trade from a very early age. Similarly, in many cultures the
education of girls is less valued or girls are simply not expected to
need formal schooling, and these girls pushed into child labour such
as providing domestic services.
Macroeconomic causes

Child labour is a serious problem in all five, but it is not a new

problem. Macroeconomic causes encouraged widespread child labour
across the world, over most of human history. Causes for child labour
include both the demand and the supply side. While poverty and
unavailability of good schools explain the child labour supply side.
The growth of low paying informal economy rather than higher
paying formal economy is amongst the causes of the demand side.
Inflexible labour market, size of informal economy, inability of

industries to scale up and lack of modern manufacturing technologies

are major macroeconomic factors affecting demand and acceptability
of child labour.